Does anybody know of a 18"ish long travel kit that retains 4WD for 95+ tacomas. ESB is the largest I've seen at 17" but their suspension has a custom spindle that does not look to be 4WD compatible. But their pre 95 kit seems to be 4WD compatible (with custom axles). Has anyone built up a LT taco with more then 13" and 4WD?

 

i dont think its possible, cvs couldnt handle it, you'd have to use something like a porsche axle to handle the extreme angle. and the esb kit does not allow 4wd after installed, unless removed again.

 

Pick one.

If you are looking for a kit, either get ESB long travel and sacrifice front drive, or keep front drive and lose some travel.

I would run ESB if I had a go fast truck.

 

Check out www.ttora.com - lots of go-fast-desert-Taco-guys over there

 

There isn't one available but it could be done.

Basically, you get the travel you want by extending the arms to the desired length. I believe 6" over on each side should net you about 18" (Our 12-13" kits are 3.25 per side).

Once that is made, you merely need to have custom shafts built to that length. I have known guys who were considering doing it. I'm not sure if you would experience more vibration with the length of shaft required, but it if feasible.

In short, no there is no kit. But, yes, it can be done.

 

ESB is no longer in business.

Like already said, the cv's are the limiting factor.

 

The cv's are the limiting factor if you try to get 18" out of stock length arms.

But if you extend the length of the arms, and still keep the bumpstops at the same point, you will have more travel and the same exact cv angles.

It's the reason LT kits work in the first place. By extending the arms, we get mopre travel while still keeping in the stock cv range.

 

18" with 4WD is possible but out of the budget of 90% of the general population. With 18" of travel the CV's are not the limitation (a stock CV is) but you can have custom axles made but that is where the $$$ factor comes in. Unless you have 10K to spend on one off axles that are capable of that kind of movement. There is no company that makes a kit more than 12-13" of travel and retains 4WD and there are a couple reasons 1. Cost. 2. The downsides of the 4x4 frame with Tacomas and older trucks. The cross member on the 4WD frame hangs down too low so with 18" of travel a lift spindle is required because with 18" of travel when it gets close to bottoming out, the frame will hit the ground before the suspension will bottom out. Here is a pic of the spindle on a Total Chaos Gen. III kit which has 15" of travel with the older 4x4 frame.

As you can see there is pretty much no way to run 4WD because of the modified lift spindle. The spindle is required for the ground clearence issues and for the lower uniball, there is no way a Toyota BJ can move that much without ripping apart.

 

Good call. I didn't even realize the crossmember would hit the ground with that much travel. Makes sense though.

Personally, even if it came close to hitting the ground it wouldn't be worth the extra travel.

 

CHECK TTORA. i read that someone was using a modified tundra kit, tundra cv's are 3.5" longer than tacos and the LT tundra kit was 3.5" longer than the oem tundra putting you at a CV length of 7" longer than stock and uses the factory spindle. i dont know how it would work with manual hubs as the tundra has ADD iirc. it had alot of travel from what I understand. also the tundra CV's can handle more of an angle.

 

I wanted to quote this for clarity and redundancy.

Most people forget this point, if you have similar triangles, the same inner angle results in more travel because of more width.

CV's are the limiting factor, getting custom stuff to take that much width and angle will break that bank for most people, as you said.

I am always entertained when people freak out over absolute travel numbers on stuff like this. Is an 18" kit twice as good as a kit with 9" travel? Is the 18" kit half again as good as the 12" kit?

If you want an off the shelf kit, oddly most of the go fast stuff is good. If you want more, it will be custom and then there are no holds barred.

 

One of the fabricators that helped build my truck had a T-100. It uses the same arms, and center scetion as the early pickups and 4runners. But, the T-100 has the longer axles and a wider crossmember. He explained to me that stock to stock, the T-100 had slightly more travel. He also had long travel and was using the same arms as I had. He was able to pull 15" of travel with axles as where I can only have 12" with my axles. If this is correct, I wonder if the Tundras have the same advantage.

 

Anyone remember the infamous Donahoe "Crazy Yellow 4Runner"

I have NO IDEA what the front travel was.

Insanely custom RACE truck.

The front dif was CENTERED under the oil pan.

The transfer case was a chain case with a new billet case so that the front shaft dropped down and ran UNDER the transmission.

Obviosly this means that the A arms were LONG and the piviot points were now centered under the midline of the car.

Obviously there had to be a skid pan to protect the front drive shaft and of course an insane amout of lift by definition..

 

My mom now owns that 4runner. She drives it to work and the occasional jaunt to the grocery store.

All that travel on torsion bars and ball joints....kinda makes me cringe. All the while, I really feel a sudden urge to go to the Vernon truck wash.

 

really?